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Friday, March 2, 2018

Bits & Bites

Westside Market is now open at Toco Hills shopping center. The new and used antique and gift market opened in a large portion of the former Department of Labor office (onetime Colonial grocery store) and is the second location for the locally owned company. The original, and far larger Westside Market is actually on the Westside and is located on Ellsworth Industrial Avenue.

Hardee's is now open on Mountain Industrial Boulevard in Tucker. The new freestanding restaurant, which ToNeTo Atlanta first reported last September, is located at 1727 Mountain Industrial Boulevard, just off US 78 (Stone Mountain Freeway). The new approximately 3,000 square foot restaurant was built on vacant land adjacent to Stars & Strikes.

Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks arecoming to a new freestanding, three tenant outparcel of Hong Kong Supermarket shopping center in the 5400 block of Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross. The new development replaced what had been a restaurant that was demolished years ago. The new center is situated beside an existing freestanding Chick-fil-A

Muss & Turner's closed its East Cobb location earlier this week after just shy of one year in business. The restaurant, part of Unsukay restaurants and an offshoot of the group's successful Muss & Turner's in Smyrna, repalced Common Quarter which the group had operated in the space previously. The former Muss & Turner's is located in an approximately 5,200 square foot space in The Fresh Market anchoredWoodlawn Square shopping center on Johnson Ferry Road.

Ipps has closed its restaurant at 12850 Georgia Highway 9 in Alpharetta. The restaurant, an offshoot of the popular ippolito's Neighborhood Italian Restaurant chain, remains open on Main Street in Woodstock.

Smashburger recently closed its location at 5530 Windward Parkway in Alpharetta. The closure leaves the Denver based "better burger" franchise with just three locations in Georgia: Buckhead, Johns Creek and Locust Grove. The chain, which once had franchised aspirations for over 50 locations in metro Atlanta, previously closed locations on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs and on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw.

Punch Bowl Social plans to open its first Atlanta area location Saturday March 24 at The Battery Atlanta at SunTrust Park. The new venue, which will feature arcade games, bowing and karaoke as well as a full bar and restaurant, is similar to local concepts The Painted Pin in Buckhead and The Painted Duck on the Westside. Hugh Acheson, who already operates First & Third Hot Dog and Sausage Shack and Achie's in the new Omni Hotel is also the "culinary advisor behind the food offerings at Punch Bowl Social as a company. The Atlanta location spans 25,000 square feet over two floors and will be the 13th overall and first in the southeast for the Denver based chain. [Great read on Punch Bowl Social from Inc.]

Also in The Battery Atlanta, Select Shades, a locally owned sunglass retailer plans to open April 1 followed by confectionery business Sweet Pete's and the return of Farrell's in May/June. The Atlanta Braves will celebrate their second season at SunTrust Park with their home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies at 4:10 on Thursday March 29th

New-to-market pizzeria Firenza is opening their first Atlanta area location at Sugarloaf Marketplace in Duluth. The new restaurant, which specializes in 10" create your own pizza, is similar the offerings of Blaze Pizza and MOD Pizza. The first Firenza opened in Fairfax, Virginia in 2015. Today there are about a dozen locations open with about ten more coming soon. Sugarloaf Marketplace, which was built by Fuqua Development and is now owned by Hendon Properties, was first expected to have a Pie Five Pizza location but the company subsequently abandoned plans for the Atlanta market and never opened.

Bishop's has been added to roster at Toco Hills shopping center. The "cuts/color" franchise will open alongside Spiller Park coffee in a portion of the former Shoe Center space. Bishop's is also opening in Parkview on Peachree on Peachtree Boulevard in Chamblee. According to the Bishop's website the Chamblee location is opening "in March", while the Toco Hills location is simply opening "in 2018."

Kohl'sannounced yesterday that it will add Aldi grocery stores to ten of its stores as it looks at ways to monetize and make better use of excess store space. Exact locations of the Aldi/Kohl's collaboration stores have not yet been made public.

Sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that Jamestown Properties, with North American headquarters in Atlanta, has purchased Parkaire Landing shopping center in East Cobb from Retail Planning Corporation. A purchased price was not disclosed. Parkaire Landing, located at the intersection of Lower Roswell and Johnson Ferry Roads is anchored by a nearly 59,000 square foot Kroger is 156,000 square feet in total area and sits on 19 acres. The shopping center has been removed from the Retail Planning Corporation but has not yet been added to the Jamestown site. According to the Jamestown site, their only Georgia holdings are Newport Timber Tract Long and Liberty Counties, GA Ponce City Market and Westside Provisions District.

Best Buyplans to close all 257 locations of their Best Buy mobile concept by May 31. The stores, most of which are located in malls, are quite small, measuring about 1,400 square feet. In metro Atlanta, the company operates Best Buy mobile store at Cumberland Mall and The Mall at Stonecrest, among others.

Thai Express plans to open Tuesday, March 6 at Decatur Crossing on Scott Boulevard near Decatur. The restaurant will open alongside MOD Pizza and Tropical Smoothie Cafe in the Sprouts Farmers Market anchored center. This will be the Montreal-based franchises first location in Georgia and one of its first in the United States. Additional Atlanta locations are planned for Peachtree Corners Town Center in Peachtree Corners and West Midtown Center near Atlantic Station. Decatur Crossing, Peachtree Corners Town Center and West Midtown Center are all projects of Atlanta based Fuqua Development.

Golden Corral plans to finally begin work on their planned location on Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville. The approximately 10,000 square foot restaurant, which ToNeTo Atlanta first reported on in 2016, replaced a former Folk's restaurant that was previously demolished. The new Golden Corral will be just the second of what the company refers to as a "Gateway Prototype." The first such location opened last year in Greensboro, North Carolina with renderings available here. The Gainesville location is being opened by Eric Holm of Metro Corral LLC, a Winter Park, Florida based hospitality firm. The Gainesville location will be Metro Corral's 33rd overall Golden Corral and joins others the company operates in metro Atlanta including locations in Alpharetta, Cumming Stockbridge and Buford, among others.